Out on the campaign trail: we want your photos and will
use the best for the LGA Labour Group Annual Report. They must be high resolution and you must
have the permission of everyone in the picture. Please email to Lewis Addlington-Lee.

Jewish Manifesto for Local Government

The Jewish
Manifesto for Local Government informs councillors and council candidates about
how they can best serve Jewish residents. For those candidates in areas with
fewer Jewish residents there are important policy recommendations for how to
support community cohesion and stand against antisemitism in general.

We are
calling on council candidates to support our #tenlocalcommitments, outlined on
pages four and five, over social media using the hashtag. We can send a physical
copy of the manifesto if that would be useful for candidates. You can read a
copy of the manifesto here.

For any
information on the Manifesto please contact the Board of Deputies on 0207 543 5418 or email daniel.elton@bod.org.uk.

Launch of the Terrence Higgins Trust Women and HIV report

The Terrence Higgins Trust has launched a report
looking at Women and HIV. Women and HIV: Invisible No Longer explores the priorities, experiences and needs of women living with HIV,
at risk of and affected by HIV, and has a number of key findings.

The Terrence
Higgins Trust is asking people
on social media on Monday to help to share the report by joining us in calling
for a far greater focus on women living with, and who are affected by, HIV on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by sharing our pledge: I
pledge to make sure women are #InvisibleNoLonger when it comes to HIV: www.tht.org.uk/invisiblenolonger

We would very much welcome your
support in sharing the report on social media on Monday. In addition, if you
would like a copy of the press release for the launch please do let us know.

Next Labour Together Event: How can we use community organising to rebuild trust in politics? Tuesday 24 April, 2.45pm, CR9, House of Commons

Labour Together's Get Togethers are a series of
monthly sessions bringing together Labour MPs, councillors, activists and
academics from across the Labour movement to explore new ideas and thinking on
the future of the left.

This session will be looking at how we can
rebuild trust in politics through community organising and other forms of
citizen engagement. In the wake of Brexit, trust in traditional politics is
declining. With more people questioning traditional power structures, how can
politics respond? From community organising to citizens panels, this session
will be exploring how we can get more people involved in making the decisions
that affect them. Can this approach restore trust in politics? What is the role
of MPs and other elected representatives in this space? What can we learn from
civil society and experiments in participation?

On 24 April, we’ll be hearing from Neil
Jameson, Founder and CEO of Citizens UK, the home of community organising in
the UK. During the session, Neil will talk through Citizens UK’s approach, its
success in empowering communities and what politicians can learn from it. Neil
will be joined by Reema Patel, a Labour councillor in Barnet who has run both
online and offline deliberation and citizen engagement programmes for the
think-tank Involve and the RSA’s Citizen’s Economic Council.

The session should last just under 60 minutes.
If you or a representative from your office would be interested in coming
along, please RSVP to jon@labourtogether.co.uk

On
Wednesday 18 April, Emma Lewell Buck MP will host a Local
Solutions to Hunger event, looking at what practical steps
are available to tackle poverty and hunger and how can councils take a leading
role, particularly in light of the rollout of Universal Credit.

Labour local government sets out ambitions for ‘Day One’ of Labour government

The LGA Labour Group has set out an ambitious programme
for a future Labour Government to ensure councils are properly funded to
deliver real change for local communities On Day One. You
can read the publication here.

The authors
outline the damage caused by Tory austerity and set out what is needed to
address the funding gap. Cuts of almost 50 per cent have been made to central
government funding for councils between 2010 and 2018, and Tory-run
Northamptonshire County Council issued a section 114 notice effectively
declaring they were ‘bankrupt’. It also demands new freedoms for councils -
including powers to build new council homes, open new schools, create a
children’s centre in every community and a call for the next Labour government
to invest heavily in early intervention and prevention.

Cllr Nick Forbes,
the leader of the LGA Labour Group said: “If the next Labour government
wants to deliver immediate and visible change for the many, not the few then
the fastest and most direct route lies through local government. Communities
across the country are demanding change to fix the housing crisis and support
young people. With sufficient funding and greater freedoms local councils can
generate economic growth, build new homes and strengthen communities.”

The report has
the backing of shadow communities and local government secretary Andrew Gwynne
MP, who in a foreword to the report writes: “The future of our country cannot
be formulated by politicians in Westminster, but needs to be built in
partnership with local leaders and local people.”